By Jonathan Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A year and a half after a city study linked skyrocketing health issues in Washington Heights and Harlem to the lack of fresh produce sold in those neighborhoods, a local community board has greenlighted legislation to lure more grocery stores to the area.
Community Board 12 voted Tuesday night to loosen land-use regulations to make it easier for more produce-selling supermarkets to move into upper Manhattan. The City Council is expected to vote on the legislation next month.
Officials hope that boosting the number of stores that sell fresh greens, as opposed to the ubiquitous bodegas which sell mostly packaged and canned goods, could help lower the rates of obesity and diabetes in the area.
The only way to buy produce currently in the area is to either buy wilted goods from corner bodegas or take risks on unregulated street vendors, residents complain.
"The question is, how many of them are legal, how many of them are licensed, and how many of them have produce that is actually fresh?" said Wayne Benjamin, who heads Community Board 12's land-use committee.
On 181st Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, dozens of street vendors do a brisk business, with one vendor making about $1,000 a day.
But they're more focused on dodging police, who issue tickets that can eliminate a day’s profits, than they are on health regulations.
"People come to us because there’s no options anywhere and we’re cheaper—we don’t have any rent or overhead," said one vendor, an undocumented Mexican immigrant at the corner of 181st Street and Wadsworth Avenue who would only give his name as King.
"We wanted to get a store but the landlords want too much, like $5,000 a month."
